Ron DeSantis' coming out party
It came on the issue of abortion. Bret Baier asked him about one of his supporters saying that he'd need to moderate his position on abortion. Gov. DeSantis replied "Well, I would say that we sold the biggest landslide election victory in the history of the Republican Party in the state of Florida in 2022. That's what I did. But second of all, look, you've got to do what you think is right. I believe in a culture of life. I was proud to sign the Heartbeat Bill."
DeSantis continued, saying "One of the most impactful things in my life was when I heard the heartbeat of my oldest daughter in my wife's womb and then I saw the sonagrams of all 3 of my children. What the Democrats are trying to do on this issue is wrong to allow abortion right up until the moment of birth. I know a lady in Florida named Penny. She survived multiple abortion attempts. She was left discarded in a pan. Fortunately, her grandmother saved her and took her to a different hospital. We're better than the Democrats are selling. We are not going to allow abortion up until birth and we will hold them accountable for their extremism."
Check out this video of that exchange:
DeSantis theme for the night was that U.S. decline isn't inevitable. It's a choice. Check out this opening flurry: Another strong reply from DeSantis was on the issue of crime. He said that part of the problem is Soros-funded DAs. Gov. DeSantis said that he's the only person on stage who, when he found out about Soros-funded DAs refusing to do their job, he fired them. The crowd roared to signal their approval.Gov. DeSantis also gave strong answers on the border (he'd send in SpecOps to clean out cartels -- asks how many more have to get poisoned by fentanyl before we take it seriously?)
Gov. DeSantis said that he'd force Europe to help more with Ukraine in terms of both $$$ and equipment. Gov. DeSantis didn't say he was opposed to helping Ukraine, just that Europe had to do more to help their neighbor, which is the right policy.
Finally, it's the truth to say that each of Gov. DeSantis' answers were on-point and usually strong. Most of his answers had 2 parts to them. He often referred to his Florida accomplishments on whatever the subject was before he laid out a plan for fixing what's broken with the U.S. It struck me as the right mix between positive solutions and criticizing Biden's failures.
But did he enhance his position? He did as expected, but really no more. Others lost ground, a couple may be done in fact. So it’s addition by subtraction. That hyuugge gap to Trump remains undented.
ReplyDeleteThe point should be that DeSantis is the only candidate on stage that looks like he's ready to lead the nation without getting dragged into a mudslinging contest.
ReplyDeleteI'm old enough to remember when determining whether a candidate was qualified was how debate winners & losers were determined. These days, it's also about who can look like a total jackass & a rookie at the same time.